For those of you who weren’t aware, we lost our internet access (and cable and phone) back in October. Funny how these companies actually expect you to pay for their services. LOL Anyways, what was supposed to be a short break from the home internet turned into nearly a three month stint because, as they say, everything that could go wrong did.

Immediately after things got turned off I started my almost daily treks to the Winchester Public Library to use their computers. I informed those who needed to know of alternate ways to contact me, since my only phone was my cell and the only way I could read my email was via my sites cpanel which Firefox (on my home computer) had the only remaining copy of the password to. I spent most of my daily internet hour doing payouts on King of the World and trying to keep up as much as I could with friends on Facebook. Sadly, because I was unable to set up my own friendlies, my land on KoTW took some major abuse — especially during the week before coming back online at home.

At home I watched a lot of DVDs. First from my own collection, supplemented with ones rented from Netflix. Then I started hitting the library’s collection. Since a good portion of that time was spent crocheting for upcoming craft fairs it didn’t matter if most of it was brainless fodder.

I finished up my colorguard practices for the year and did an awesome performance at Plymouth. I was very proud of myself! I had posted a video of the show on Facebook, and had planned on doing the same here, but it seems the video’s owner has removed it. Boo!

Glenn has been Glenn. He still thinks that the little drummer boy and I have a thing as well as that the entire drum corps nation is trying to keep it a secret. He insists that the guy was at a practice a couple of weeks before the Plymouth show. At first he said he know because of the look several guard members gave him after something he said. This is despite the fact that none of the Crusader colorguard members knew what was going on until a week after the guy supposedly appeared. Now Glenn is saying he actually saw the guy being escorted out by a group or corps members just as he (Glenn) walked in.

Back in November Glenn had a mild heart attack. I’d love to have some sympathy for him but after I’ll I’ve been though… His own stupidity hasn’t helped, either. He had been suffering from shortness of breath for a week prior and it took him almost as long to make an appointment to see his doctor. The night before the appointment he was wheezing badly, like he had pneumonia, but refused to go to the hospital because he was going to see his doctor in the morning. His doctor took one look at him and demanded he immediately go to the hospital. Apparently his heart isn’t beating all that well (most likely due to all the boozing he’s been doing) and was so weak that his liver and kidneys couldn’t do their jobs and his lungs filled with fluid as the result. Upon release from the hospital he was given strict instructions not to drink. He swears he hasn’t been, yet he’s been doing a lot of “walking” (that requires the car), spending much time in the bathroom, and exhibiting minty fresh breath. Plus he’s also cold and tired about the same time every day (earlier on weekends). He claims this is because of the medications, but he takes the same meds at night that he does in the morning and he has no problem during the day. That’s if he remembers to take them, that is. And yet he’s still cold and tired, then, too.

Last month the rear brake lines on the Taurus either started rotting or some stupid critter gnawed at them. Either way the car was leaking mass amounts of brake fluid. The car was supposed to stay put until we could afford to take it to a mechanic but Glenn is so special he decided to drive it anyway. Shortly before Christmas he was driving down to Arlington, lost control of the car, couldn’t stop, and hit a wall — totaling the car. Did I mention he was also driving uninsured, unregistered and with an expired inspection sticker? *headdesk* I’m still waiting for the “YOU’RE FUCKED!” letter from either the Arlington Police Department or the RMV. We are looking at new cars. Well, new to us. Yesterday I found a 2000 Honda Civic with just 54K on it for under $6500. Damn good shape, too. If the credit union approves the loan we may have it on the road by next week. If we get it, I’m going to do everything I can to get my license ASAP. Not just because we now live in a town that’s apparently too good for public transportation, but because I plan to own that car in the near future — and Glenn will be paying for the gas, if you catch my drift.

Anyways. This has been my long overdue update. I’ll be posting more frequently now that I’m back online at home, especially since it seems that I’ve finally worked out the kink in Twitter Tools. I’m sure I’ll have lots more Stupid Glenn Tricks to share, too.

I finished importing all of my LiveJournal posts into my WordPress blog. Hey, if Blog Metrics says I’ve been blogging for 8+ years I might as well have something to show for it, right?

Anyway, in addition to forgetting to turn off the reposting plugins the first time around, I also forgot to have WP password protect all of my “Friends Only” posts. So I’ve been going through, deleting the comment-less reposts, password protecting the ones with comments made by those who are concerned about being read publically, and deleting all of the duplicate comments. Judging by the fact that I have 921 posts and 2,315 comments I think I still have a number of duplicate comments to remove. Funny how the importer can see duplicate posts but not duplicate comments. *shrugs* At least I got the comments, though, something I couldn’t do a year ago when I tried to import LJ to Insane Journal.

In other news, I finally found an old friend from high school on Facebook. Or, more accurately, he found me. I’ve been trying to track him down for quite some time, with no luck, so I’m really excited to see him again. Hopefully we can continue to make mischief together, online. *weg*

I don’t know about Xmas, but the Gods have blessed us with a very snowy Yule.

The forecast predicted 7-12 inches on Friday, starting before noon, a sunny Saturday, and snow/rain starting sometime today. The storm started around 2-ish, Friday afternoon. When I went out for a smoke Saturday morning, around 2am, the snow was finally tapering off after dumping 8 inches of fluffy snow on us. However, it never completely stopped. All day Saturday, instead of sun, we had light flurries, which apparently intensified into another snow storm during the night. Glenn, who thought he was going to have the day to rest up after 22 hours of plowing/shoveling, got called in at 6am. I think he got called in then. Not sure as I wasn’t quite in my right mind, having been awake for nearly two days straight. Anyway, I just went out and there’s another 4 inches of snow — the heavier stuff, this time — and it’s still coming down strong.

My Yule plans didn’t go as, well, planned. Glenn didn’t take the turkey out of the freezer untill two days after I had asked him to do so. As such, the bird was still frozen. Fortunately I decided to cheat this year. Instead of the usual cover with cheesecloth/roast at a low temp/baste every 30 minutes method, I threw it into an oven bag and roasted it at a higher temperature. Still, we ate three hours later than we were supposed to. While we were eating I put the pie into the oven. Shortly afterward an already piss drunk Glenn turned off the stove, so when the timer went off it was nowhere near done. *headdesk* Because of the hubbub over dinner I never heard my phone’s timer go off, reminding me of ritual time, so I compleltey flaked off about that until about 2am this morning. My oil lamp, which was lit during the ritual, had gone out before I awoke this morning despite my making sure the wick was at the correct height and it had enough olive oil. And the tree, which we were supposed to decorate after dinner, is getting decorated now. Given the current weather, I’m not worried that I missed the sunrise. *laughs*

There’s an organizition going from supermarket to supermarket collecting food donations to ship to the troops overseas. I’ve been accosted twice by them at two seperate stores. Both times I was essentially told that I did not support the troops because I refused to make a donation.

Excuse me?

While I do not come from a military family per se, I do have a mumber of family members and friends who have been or currenlty are in the service. I thank them whenever I can. I have ocasionally voiced my opinions on the need to provide these protectors of our freedoms with better pay and benefits. But the last time I checked those in the miltary still got fed, courtesy of my tax dollars. It may not be the best food, but it’s certainly better than what many of us are eating.

At a time when food pantries across the country are seeing a sharp decrease in food donations just as they are seeing an equally sharp increase in those that need these services (including many military familes), I think anyone who has the nerve to tell me I don’t support the military because I choose to spend my whopping $60 a week food budget on my family of four (and the occasional dollar donation to the local food pantry, which I use) instead of buying TP for the troops needs to shut the fuck up.

For the past couple of days I’ve been having trouble sleeping. Instead of a good night’s sleep I’ve been getting multiple napes, one right after the other. Obviously, while they are short, I am getting deep enough to dream… of cleaning the house, washing the clothes, surfing the web, talking to people. You know. Mundane stuff. The dreams are so vivid, with no indication that they are dreams, I’m becoming rather disoriented, unable to tell if a particular action was real or just in my head. I’m not sick, which is usually when I have such detailed dreams. Plus they aren’t good dreams *waggles eyebrows* which are most common when I’m ill. Yes, I’m stressed but not only have I been stressed for awhile, I’m never able to remember my dreams when I’m under pressure. Honestly, unless I’ve reached a whole new, previously unexpolred level of strees, I can’t figure out what could be triggering these dreams.

To add insult to injury, I think someone or something is trying to drive me insane. With my parents’ help. Wednesday my father called from his cell phone. The exchange? 715. Since he and my stepmom were planning to go away this weekend he wanted to give me her cell phone number as he rarely uses his. Her exchange is also 715. Half an hour later my dad emails me to let me know he gave me the wrong number. The correct prefix is 716. No problem. I change it in my phone.

Last night (Friday), while my phone was charging and I was out having a kretek break, someone calls. The exchange is 715, so my first thought is that my father was right the first time. Being late I decide to text my stepmom’s phone. No sooner do I send the message when I discover that my dad had called me from HIS phone. Unfortunately Glenn had arrived home from work so I couldn’t forward the message to the correct phone.

This morning I received another call on my cell. This time I see 716. Even though I briefly think that if it was either of my parents their names would’ve come up, too, I answer it anyway. It’s turns out to be an elderly sounding woman looking for someone named “Beverly”. I politely told them they had the wrong number and checked the caller ID again. Yup. 716. Only this time it’s the area code.

At some point this afternoon I came to the conclusion that this is getting a little weird. There seems to be some significance to “716”, even though it occured less often. Of course, since I’m dealing with numbers the first thing that comes to my mind is to play the Lottery. So I played the Numbers Game (or the NUMB3R5 Game, as it is now known as). 716X, first three, exact order. I just checked the Lottery’s website. Toight’s number? 1673. *headdesk*